Let us consider, for a moment, the class of persons to whom Davy addressed himself. Were they students prepared to toil with systematic precision, in order to obtain knowledge as a matter of necessity?--No--they were composed of the gay and the idle, who could only be tempted to admit instruction by the prospect of receiving pleasure,--they were children, who could only be induced to swallow the salutary draught by the honey around the rim of the cup. It has been well observed, that necessity alone can urge the traveller over barren heaths and snow-topped mountains, while he treads with rapture along the fertile vales of those happier climes where every breeze is perfume, and every scene a picture. If Science can be promoted by increasing the number of its votaries, and by enlisting into its service those whom wealth and power may render valuable as examples or patrons, there does not exist a class of philosophers to which we are more largely indebted than to popular lecturers, or to those whose eloquence has clothed with interest, subjects otherwise severe and uninviting. How many disciples did Mineralogy acquire through the lectures of Dr. Clarke at Cambridge, who may truly be said to have covered a desert with verdure, and to have raised from barren rocks flowers of every hue and fragrance! In the sister university, what an accession of strength and spirit have the animated discourses of Dr. Buckland brought to the ranks of Geologists! To judge fairly of the influence of a popular style, we should acquaint ourselves with the effects of an opposite method; and if an appeal be made to experience, I may very safely abide the issue. Dr. Young, whose profound knowledge of the subjects he taught, no one will venture to question, lectured in the same theatre, and to an audience similarly constituted to that which was attracted by Davy, but he found the number of his attendants diminish daily, and for no other reason than that he adopted too severe and didactic a style.[38] [38] From the following minute it would appear, that Dr. Young's connection with the Royal Institution was but of short duration. It will be remembered that his appointment took place on July 6, 1801. "Resolved--That Dr. Young be paid the balance of two years' complete salary, and that his engagement with the Institution terminate from this time--July 4, 1803." In speaking of Davy's lectures as mere specimens of happy oratory, we do injustice to the philosopher. Had he merely added the Corinthian foliage to a temple built by other hands, we might have commended his taste, and admired his talent of adaptation, and there our eulogium must have ended; but the edifice itself was his own; he dug the materials from the quarry, formed them into a regular pile, and then with his masterly touch added to its strength beauty, and to its utility grace.